Sic transit, Gloria!

 It is exactly the last 30 days in office for President Arroyo at Malacañang Palace. By 12 noon of June 30, she would turn over the reins of government to her duly-elected successor, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as the 15th President of the Republic.

After more than nine years in power, President Arroyo consequently became the second longest-serving Chief Executive to stay in office at Malacañang next to the 20-year rule of the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos.

This is not to mention that Mrs. Arroyo is also the second woman President of the Republic. The first, of course, was the late President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, the mother of the incoming President. 

But she has the bragging right of being the first child of a former Philippine President to also become President of the Republic. She’s the daughter of the late President Diosdado Macapagal. She followed her father’s footsteps in the corridors of power where she once romped around and played as a young girl.

Her successor is also someone who once walked the same corridors of power as a young man. He would again tread the Palace grounds as soon as his colleagues in Congress complete the historic process of proclaiming him as the new President of our country for the next six years. 

It’s only a matter of time before the joint congressional canvass of the results of the May 10 national elections are done and over with. When she steps down from office, President Arroyo can rightfully claim — among other accomplishments of her administration — as the President who finally automated the Philippine electoral system.

And thanks to the automated elections, we are soon installing the winner of the Presidential contest. While we had the fastest results seen in decades of elections we did manually through the years, our lawmakers obviously failed to synchronize their mandate as the national board of canvassers with the automated electoral system.

So while we all patiently wait for the national canvassing process to be completed by Congress, the President has shifted to transition phase from her administration’s legacy mode. Sic transit, (thus passes) Gloria!

Towards this purpose, she created and designated a team of her Cabinet and Palace officials to effect a seamless transition of government functions to the incoming Aquino administration. She formed the Presidential Transition Cooperation Team composed of Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, Budget Secretary Jake Lagonera, Education Secretary Mona Valisno, Socio-economic planning Secretary Augusto Santos, Press Secretary Crispulo Icban Jr., Presidential Management Staff head Elena Bautista, and Philippine Information Agency head Conrado Limcaoco Jr. The Transition Team had been in the thick of preparations of all the necessary requirements and documents they would turn over to the officials of the new administration. They have reportedly met already and sat down with designated representatives of the Aquino camp.

Actually, all Arroyo Cabinet members would turn over their respective accomplishments or exit reports. These include a separate report on plantilla positions in all government offices that are vacant and vacancies that would arise with the automatic resignation of co-terminus officials whose appointments would also end by June 30. The other most important part of these exit reports are the respective budgets for 2010 that are still available for the incoming heads of these departments.

Speaking of budget, all government workers are set to enjoy an increase in their monthly take-home pay with the effectivity of the second round implementation of the Salary Standardization Law Part 3, or SSL-3. As provided for by the SSL 3, all state workers will enjoy a four-step increase in their basic salaries, the first of which took effect in July last year.

This was reported on Channel News 5 over the weekend as culled from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). The SSL-3 is mandated in Joint Resolution No. 4 approved into law by both chambers of Congress in June last year. The pay increase under SSL-3 sought to make competitive the salary rates of state workers from Cabinet officials down to the rank-and-file with their counterparts in the private sector.

Fortunately for the new administration officials, they will enjoy the next pay increase of state workers that takes effect by July this year. The monthly basic salaries of all elected government officials from President down to the newly elected local government officials are likewise set to increase.

The new President will receive a basic salary of P95,000 every month which is higher than the P57,000 monthly salary of President Arroyo who opted not to be covered by SSL-3. Under the SSL-3, the President’s monthly salary will further increase to P107,000 in 2011 and P120,000 in 2012.

For the new vice president, the monthly salary will reach P79,451 in July this year. This will be increased to P91,000 in 2011 and P103,000 in 2012. As to who will be entitled to this pay hike remains to be seen. The winner of the contest in the vice presidential elections between Sen.Mar Roxas II and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay is not clear up to now and the protracted congressional canvass is not helping any to quickly resolve it.

For the new set of 12 Senators, their monthly salary would reach P90,000 in 2012 from the current P59,186 with the full implementation of SSL-3. It is not clear, though, if this pay increase exempts re-electionist Senators Juan Ponce-Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, Pia Cayetano, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Lito Lapid. This is because lawmakers are not supposed to benefit from their own legislation. The same provision should apply to re-elected Congressmen who will have the same basic salary of around P40,000 a month.

The monthly salary for the provincial governor and the city mayor, particularly for the special cities and first class provinces, will rise to P78,946 in 2012 from the current P45,941 a month.

These higher salary scales of state workers augurs well for the transition of the new administration. Sic transit, Gloria! Hopefully, this would reduce corruption because working in government now pays well. Certainly, this would support Aquino’s campaign slogan “Walang mahirap kung walang corrupt.”